Hall of Fame

Charlotte St. Martin

President,
Broadway League

Charlotte St. Martin grew up outside Dallas, started working at a movie theater concession stand at age 12, spent several decades in the hospitality industry—mostly working for Loews—and then was recruited to head the Broadway League in 2006. She has presided over the theater industry’s most successful run ever.

How did you get started in the hotel business?

I started with the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas when it was under construction. I was recruited for another job, and I met with the owner of the Fairmont, who told me, “Charlotte, you do a great job, but as long as I am alive, a woman will never be a general manager of one of my hotels.” I said, “I guess that means I need to leave,” and that’s exactly what I did.

So you joined Loews and stayed for 28 years. How did you climb the ladder there?

I was the original director of sales and marketing at the Anatole Hotel in Dallas and then rose through the ranks as a regional vice president and then president of the Anatole, which was the company’s largest hotel. I was promoted to executive vice president of marketing and operations, which was in New York City, so I moved here.

What is the most important thing you learned at Loews?

To be a part of the community. Our hotels were not cookie-cutter. Each one was part of its community. That’s really a Bob and Jonathan Tisch standard.

But you couldn’t be CEO.

No, my last name wasn’t Tisch. But I never for a moment thought I was being held back because of my gender.

Why did you decide to leave?

I had been traveling 75% of the time for 25 years, and one morning I woke up and said, “Stick a fork in me; I’m done. I can’t get on another airplane.” A headhunter contacted me about the position at the Broadway League. I had been recommended by three people. What they didn’t know was that my friends called me “Broadway Charlotte” because I went to 25 to 35 Broadway shows a year. I got to take my avocation and make it my vocation.

Did you have a lot to learn?

Yes, but what people don’t understand is that the theater business is a big business—in New York and around the country—that is made up of a lot of small entrepreneurial businesses.

What is the reason for the enormous success of Broadway, which set records last season for attendance and box office?

Broadway has been listening to the audience, and we have created a diversity of entertainment unlike anything else out there, except maybe in music, and there is a lot of music on Broadway. I don’t care if you are a tweener, a teenager, a 20something, a 30something or an older person—there is something for you on Broadway.

Two-thirds of the people attending Broadway shows are from out of town. What does that tell us about Broadway?

Broadway is not just a New York business. It could be called the longest road in America. And 80% of the people who come to New York to see a Broadway show also see shows in their own community.

What role has the league itself had in this success?

We represent the producers and the theater owners, and we have allowed them to pull together marketing networks and labor networks. We also co-produce the Tony Awards, which is a very important part of letting people know what is happening on Broadway.

On the Tony’s broadcast in June, several people noted that women still do not play a full role on Broadway. What do you think about the progress women have made?

I don’t believe that women have been held back on Broadway. Rather, too few women have been put in a position to get the appropriate experience to win key roles, much like in corporate America. We are seeing a strong group of women playwrights, directors, lighting designers, choreographers. I think talent will win out, and there are a great many talented women entering Broadway.

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